Will Secure Act Move the Needle for Annuities in Retirement Plans?
February 18, 2020 by Nick Thornton
For years, the insurance industry and advocates for guaranteed income products have been lobbying to get fiduciary sanctuary for employer sponsors of defined contribution plans who put annuities in investment menus.
And for at least a good part of last year, that sanctuary was all but certain, thanks to the annuity provider selection safe harbor in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act.
Though the slam-dunk passage of the Secure Act was called into question before it was ultimately passed as part of a larger end-of-year spending package, the bill always enjoyed vast bipartisan support. The conventional wisdom was that Secure, and its annuity selection safe harbor, would ultimately pass into law, one way or another.
So it stands to reason that annuity providers were storing dry powder in the run up to Secure’s passage, ready to unleash new and improved income guarantees to the defined contribution market, perhaps at new and improved price points.
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